This research began with an observation after some conversations with friends in a bookstore. Many of us admitted that we read scanlated material more than we would read licensed materials. And while we had strong opinions about scanlations, I wondered if this was common opinion among fans. Hence, after doing some groundwork and some research about people and places on the net and all over the world, I thought it’s about time that I open the same conversations I had with my friends on how much of Japanese culture do they actually learn just from reading scanlations to other people.
I hope you can spare a few minutes of your time to answer my questionnare below. This survey will be closed by the 15th of September. Kindly spread this around to your friends as well who you think might be able to have an opinion or two about the topic as well. I need as much respondents as I can.
That was interesting to complete! I hope you get as many responses as you need! 8) (ffff Ono Natsume in sidebar…. I should subscribe. hahaha ;u; )
That was a long survey. XD
I took the survey, though I feel I might be one of the only people who choose the “Once per year” answer on how often one reads scanlations.
I’m a person who absolutely abhors scanlations. I don’t watch anime fansubs at all, but with manga, there are occasional comics for series I’m a huge fanboy for (like Strike Witches) that I know will never, ever get licensed…and I just can’t resist reading the scanlations. So I do read scanlations, but with extreme rarity.
Just submitted the survey, and there was a little note I wanted to add but couldn’t find a proper place: the speed of some scanlations isn’t a factor for me because none of the titles I read are scanlated anywhere near as quickly as they come out in Japan.
I’m interested in your survey, but it’s a bit odd that you are requesting the respondent’s legal name and “online handle” as well as their email. If you are planning to use this information for research that may see formal publication, have you had the questions looked over by your university’s Institutional Review Board (or whatever the local equivalent is)? You might want to specify why you need this information, what you will do with it, and what measures you will take to keep it confidential (especially as it seems the survey does not use a secure connection). If you don’t actually need this information, I’d suggest making the survey anonymous.
Thank you for your concern and I actually have passed it for review with my academic advisers. My decision to use a legal name, an e-mail and an online handle was first, to avoid anon influence on the internet. The anime and manga community has a strong anon presence and that might be abused in this survey. Second, I wish to have the means to contact some of my respondents, either for a focus group discussion or for their permission to use their response for a publication. Third, I wish to address a person formally when I do wish to contact them. The last one is a professional decision on my end as I want to show respect and formality to my respondents when I do wish to contact them.
The research itself is not due for publication anytime soon, but once the series of researches are done, I might put this up for publication someday (in the long future). Keeping the respondents anonymous might not be sufficient, considering the various locations of my respondents as well.
Your suggestion in clarifying the details further in this survey is highly appreciated and I will post these clarifications to assure the security and the purpose of the information for my students.Â
Thanks! If you do have time, please do answer my survey if you think you’re fit to be one of my respondents.